Our TV just went out so we are in the market for a 50ish" screen HDTV. I find that Plasmas are much more reasonably priced, yet use more electricity. Seems that Panasonic, Samsung and LG, in order, are leaders in the large plasma market.

My question is, what do you think about the 3D tv? Have you seen one? If you get a 3D TV, is your 1080 HD picture quality compromised at all? Samsung seems to have the lead out of the gate. I am wondering if I should simply get a good HDTV plasma and be done with it? Or should I spend a few more bucks and get the 3D to not regret it later? Or wait a while for the 3D tvs to get the bugs out. Samsung just announced the release of a 3D-HDTV (though apparently not 1080) 50" model under $1K. Don't know how much 3D viewing I will do. But I thought I would be listening to vinyl LP records my whole life, too. And I thought my ole Apple IIe was the end-all!

"The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go." -- Winston Churchill

I would wait on 3D and just get an HDTV for now. There's bound to be some bugs, and there isn't a whole hell of a lot to watch in 3D yet.

I don't know much about the difference between plasma and LCD. I have an LCD and like it quite a bit. The picture is great and there is no glare from any angle. I might be wrong but I think plasmas can have glare problems depending on the angle and the light.

The only complaint I have at all is if I'm watching something not filmed in HD, the picture isn't the greatest, especially the blacks (color, not people). I have no idea if this is an LCD thing or a HDTV thing. Plasma may not make any difference.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:3DTV is stupid. People sitting around in their living room with special TV glasses on makes me laugh.

Just buy a quality HDTV.

Yeaup. I am with him. 3-D is for certain types of movies, not for home use. Would football really be sweeter if it looked like the ball is coming at you or something? I think it would be distracting. Get a good HDTV and call it a day. Just like the internet 3-D is going to be a fad, dont get hooked.

The plasma power consumption has come down, but it's not as good as LCDs yet, let alone LED-LCDs. Plasma still have better color, although I challenge you to compare it to a good LCD and notice the difference. I expected the plasmas to be a lot cheaper than the LCDs, but they weren't. The LED-LCDs are ridiculously thin and very light in comparison. I also believe you listed the only 3 manufacturers still making plasmas, as the market has almost entirely shifted to LCDs.

I got a 55" inch Samsung LED-LCD a few months ago. It was just as the 3DTVs came out; in fact, they had just taken it out of the box. I was not impressed by the 3D, the depth seemed pretty poor and it didn't add much. I couldn't even really notice it that much. You also need a 3D DVD player too, IIRC, so that's another bunch of cash you are handing over. Just was not worth the difference in price, IMO. And as MS mentioned, barely anything is out in 3D. And how long before they broadcast? They still don't broadcast in 1080p.

I was lucky in the timing and got mine as the new tvs were coming out, so I got a model from last year; they were marked like 50% off from the original price. I had no idea that tvs were like cars in this regard. I would recommend going on Amazon and seeing if you can find the same, and if no one has any in stock wait until next year (if you can). I think I got mine in March or April.

I was upgrading from a 32" Samsung LCD that I had for about 4 years. The picture quality was unnerving at first, and the thing is so light I can move it myself (~50 pounds). I'm very satisfied. IMO the difference between the Samsungs and the LGs is very noticeable.

A lot of the tvs are also coming with internet capabilities now, although for Samsungs you have to buy their proprietary wifi usb card (like $70). I got it for my blue ray (see below), and it streams Youtube, Pandora, Netflix, and Blockbuster. The Netflix is actually pretty good picture; not a dvd but certainly good enough, and having Pandora is awesome.

One other note: I also bought a Samsung surround sound blue ray player at the same time, with part of the savings from buying a model from the previous year. The difference between having 5.1 sound out of good speakers and having the tv's sound is far greater than the difference in the picture for any of the tvs out there right now. Just using the tv speakers sounds like it's coming from a tunnel, just a huge difference. So if you don't have a sound system, I would seriously consider a lesser tv in order to get one. It's almost like going from regular TV to HD, and is certainly much bigger than the jump from 720 to 1080 IMO.

I know more about pizza than you. Much more in fact. - Cerebral_DownTime

Motherscratcher wrote:I would wait on 3D and just get an HDTV for now. There's bound to be some bugs, and there isn't a whole hell of a lot to watch in 3D yet.

I know there wasn't much 3D stuff right now. But there wasn't any 1080 stuff out not that long ago either. How long will it be that all movies have 3D?? Stranger things have happened. Even now, the only 1080 source is pretty much only BluRay DVD. Most of the stuff we watch now is not full 1080. And as far as waiting and getting 3D later, if I drop $1K+ on an HDTV (and sound system?), I am not buying 3D any time soon.

Motherscratcher wrote:I don't know much about the difference between plasma and LCD. I have an LCD and like it quite a bit. The picture is great and there is no glare from any angle. I might be wrong but I think plasmas can have glare problems depending on the angle and the light.

I thought I read that plasma actually has a better viewing angle than LCD. Not sure about glare issues.

Motherscratcher wrote:The only complaint I have at all is if I'm watching something not filmed in HD, the picture isn't the greatest, especially the blacks (color, not people). I have no idea if this is an LCD thing or a HDTV thing. Plasma may not make any difference.

Yeah, the picture is pretty much only as good as its source. The only time that is not the case is with upconverting Blu-ray or DVD players. They don't take stuff and make it 1080, but they do make look standard DVDs look better.

Anyways, the 3D TVs, do they have a good 2D picture? Do you sacrifice a good 2D for 3d?

"The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go." -- Winston Churchill

I've had a 50-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV for two years now. Wonderful picture, but if I had to do it all over again, I'd opt for a good LED or LCD. Energy use for plasma screens is way higher than for LED/LCD. My electricity bill has gone up $10 to $15 per month since I bought the Panasonic. The plasmas also radiate a lot of heat from the screen -- which isn't bad in the winter, but not good in the summer if it's set up in a smaller room.

1080p definition is great, even on larger screens. But non-1080p shows on big screens are blurry, unless you're watching from 15-20 feet or more. The larger (42 inches and more) screens simply blow up the image too much for it to remain sharp, sorta like low-res digital images have a tendency to pixellate when they're enlarged too much.

One more note: LED (light-emitting diode) TVs have a slightly better picture than LCDs (liquid-crystal displays) -- but they're a bit more expensive. Check out the pictures in the store (hh gregg, Best Buy, B&B, etc.) first, even if you're buying off the Internet.

HDTV is very nice because desktop monitors that are capable of displaying very high quality stereoscopic 3D images and video - various called 3DTV, 3D HDTV. It display has four times the standard resolution of any TV. That’s awesome. But the fact it can be watched with your own eyes without wearing silly glasses is causing people to check themselves.

malinhardly wrote:HDTV is very nice because desktop monitors that are capable of displaying very high quality stereoscopic 3D images and video - various called 3DTV, 3D HDTV. It display has four times the standard resolution of any TV. That’s awesome. But the fact it can be watched with your own eyes without wearing silly glasses is causing people to check themselves.

I know more about pizza than you. Much more in fact. - Cerebral_DownTime